If School Buildings Could Talk…A Must Read

An open letter from a parent expressing the feelings of so many of us.

I’m sorry for what you’ve been turned into. I’m sure if you could speak, you would talk about the good old days — days when kids were allowed to learn and teachers were allowed to teach. I’m sorry big politics and people with all the money and power are making the decisions our teachers and school boards should be making.

You were once a proud institution. As a child, you were a place I learned my love for reading, my thirst for answering “why,” and even where I learned to love to hate math. Nowadays, the children entering your doors don’t have time to discover what they love, what drives them, what they’re passionate about, or even how to think with common sense. They’re too busy learning how to pass the next big test, too busy trying to draw block ten diagrams explaining answers that took them two seconds to figure out in their heads.

You know all too well, old friend, how the children’s eyes lack twinkle as they pass through your halls, how the confidence is draining from their faces. Common Core is wearing them down, making them doubt their intelligence. You see the 8- and 9-year-old boys and girls with their brows full of worry, bearing burdens no children their age should, their minds facing anxieties never intended for them to face — worrying what it will be like if they don’t pass the test that “guarantees” they’re smart enough to go on to the next grade level.

Grand old school, you see the weariness on your teachers’ faces as they enter classrooms where great things once happened. You remember the excitement they once had for seeing the light bulb go on, the very reason they became teachers. But now there is no time for such moments. That wouldn’t be “measurable,” which means it’s not important in eyes of the state. Every possible moment is spent focusing on prepping their students for testing. Common Core stops for no one.